Grimskærdysse
DatedEst. 3500–2800 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
Grimskærdysse is a round dolmen north of Kirke Stillinge on the Danish island of Zealand. It is almost perfectly preserved, with an oval kerb of which two of the 24 kerbstones are tilted outwards. It was built between 3500 and 2800 BCE as a megalithic monument of the Funnel Beaker culture and is a protected ancient monument in Denmark.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Grimskærdysse
It has two supporting stones in situ, two tilted supporting stones, a displaced capstone and a threshold stone in the south-east.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): GrimskærdysseCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): GrimskærdysseCC BY-SA 4.0
The dolmen has a rectangular chamber oriented roughly north-west to south-east, measuring about 1.5 × 0.8 metres. It has two supporting stones in situ, two tilted supporting stones, a displaced capstone and a threshold stone in the south-east. The largest supporting stone has about a dozen cup marks on the edge of its upper side, which were made while the capstone was still in place. The threshold stone shows at least seven cup marks. Of the 24 or 25 kerbstones, 22 remain in situ.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): GrimskærdysseCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): GrimskærdysseCC BY-SA 4.0
About 500 metres away lies another compact round dolmen, with four surviving stones but no preserved kerb. About 2.5 kilometres away is the Breddysse, a round dolmen with two chambers.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): GrimskærdysseCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): GrimskærdysseCC BY-SA 4.0
Denmark's megalithic tombs belong to the Funnel Beaker culture of the fourth millennium BCE. They fall into two main kinds, dolmens (dysser) and the larger passage graves, with a long passage leading into a chamber. Nordic megalith architecture, the style found especially in Scandinavia and northern Germany, emerged mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Danish dolmens and passage graves (dysser and jættestuer)
Denmark's megalithic tombs belong to the Funnel Beaker culture of the fourth millennium BCE. They fall into two main kinds, dolmens (dysser) and the larger passage graves, with a long passage leading into a chamber. Nordic megalith architecture, the style found especially in Scandinavia and northern Germany, emerged mainly between 3500 and 2800 BCE. In Scandinavia the sites are classed under general terms such as dolmens, passage graves and stone cists, in contrast with the many subtypes of the German tradition.
The great passage graves show how large these tombs could be. Kong Svends Høj on the island of Lolland is a large rectangular mound surrounded by kerbstones about 1.5 metres high, among the tallest recorded in a Neolithic tomb, and covers a chamber 12.5 metres long; the gable stones are almost 4 metres high. Excavation was first attempted there in 1780. Kong Asgers Høj on Møn has a chamber 10 metres long and 2 metres wide with a passage 7.5 metres long, and it was reused for secondary burial in the Corded Ware period. In 1839 the merchant Gustav Hage opened it hoping for treasure and found it empty.
Folklore: the king's names given to these graves come from later tradition and have nothing to do with the Neolithic builders. They show how people over the centuries explained monuments they could not date.
Dating combines radiocarbon dates on bone and charcoal in the chambers, pottery and the architecture. Many dolmens have lost their mounds, leaving the stone skeleton.
When visiting, look for the kerbstones around the base, the capstone and its supports, and the passage entrance.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Nordic megalith architecture, Wikipedia: Funnel beaker culture, Wikipedia: Kong Svends Høj, Wikipedia: Kong Asgers Høj, Wikipedia: Dolmen · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 2800 BCE
Die Anlage entstand zwischen 3500 und 2800 v. Chr. als Megalithanlage der Trichterbecherkultur (TBK).
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3500–2800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for dolmens in Denmark; this site has not been dated itself. Danish dolmens (dysser) belong to the Nordic megalith tradition which emerged predominantly between 3500 and 2800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Denmark
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 55°26′53″ N, 11°15′30″ EFor a GPS or map app: 55.44810, 11.25845
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Taarnhøj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Grønhøj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Bildsø3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Bildsø3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Borhøj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic long barrowHylledysse3500–2800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Graus Høj3500–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Trælhøj3500–500 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q20064894wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Grimskærdysse" (German), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (German): GrimskærdysseCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q20064894CC0